Taunton, MA is a city located in Bristol County and has a population of approximately 56,000 people. It is a city with a rich history, cultural diversity and politically active citizens. Taunton is currently represented by local elected officials at the state level such as Senator Marc Pacheco, Representative Shaunna O'Connell and Representative Patricia Haddad. At the county level, the city has been served by various representatives like Commissioner John Mitchell Jr., Commissioner Joseph F Mutter and Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. On the municipal level, Taunton has seen many changes to its politics over the past few years. The current mayor is Thomas Hoye Jr., who was elected in 2017 following a contentious election with many candidates vying for the position. Other key local leaders include City Council President Estele Borges who was first elected in 2015 and City Solicitor Jason D Rezendes who has held his position since 2014. Local residents are passionate about their politics and are regularly involved in civic engagement activities like attending city council meetings or voting during elections.
The political climate in Taunton, MA is leaning liberal.
Bristol County, MA is somewhat liberal. In Bristol County, MA 54.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Bristol county remained strongly Democratic, 54.9% to 42.9%.
Bristol county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Taunton, MA is leaning liberal.
Bristol County, Massachusetts is somewhat liberal.
Providence-Warwick Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Massachusetts is very liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Taunton, Massachusetts: D D D D d D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Taunton, MA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,441 contributions totaling $84,282 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $58 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 251 contributions totaling $78,548 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $313 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)